Physical fitness has been a growing concern for both the government as well as the health care industry due to the decline in the time spent on physical activities by both young teens as well as older adults. Self monitoring of individuals has proven to be helpful in increasing awareness of individuals to their activity habits. By way of example, self-monitoring of sugar levels by a diabetic helps the diabetic to modify eating habits leading to a healthier lifestyle.
Self-monitoring and precisely quantizing physical activity has also proven to be important in disease management of patients with chronic diseases, many of which have become highly prevalent in the western world. A plethora of different devices and applications have surfaced to serve the needs of the community ranging from simple pedometers to complex web-based tracking programs.
Wearable devices and sensors have seen a tremendous global growth in a range of applications including monitoring physical activity. Several physical activity monitoring systems incorporate a variety of sensors which store the sensor data on a wearable device and process the data offline in a separate device. Typically, the known systems require proactive or reactive specification of the physical actions performed by the user. Additionally, while known systems are able, to some extent, to ascertain the general nature of activity that an individual is undertaking, the systems are not able to provide detailed information as to the context in which the activity is being undertaken.
Micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) sensors, which have a small form factor and exhibit low power consumption without compromising on performance, have received increased attention for incorporation into wearable sensors. For example, inertial MEMS sensors such as accelerometers can be placed into an easy and light portable device to be worn by users.
Accordingly, there is a need for smarter applications and wearable devices that track, record and report physical activities of the wearer. It would be beneficial if such a device did not require user intervention during the course of the activity. A further need exists for such a system that can deduce the nature of the physical activity. A system which performed physical activity monitoring while providing information regarding the context of the activity would be beneficial.